Device for advancing a tube in a subterranean formation



Aug. 24, 1954 H. FEHLMANN 2,637,281

DEVICE FOR ADVANCING A TUBE IN A SUBTERRANEAN FORMATION I Filed Nov. '7. 1950 I/wwf HA NS 'FZIIJMMA Patented Aug. 24, 1954 DEVICE FOR ADVANCING A TUBE IN A SUBTERRANEAN FORMATION Hans Fehlmann, Bern, Switzerland Application November 7, 1950, Serial No. 194,506.

Claims priority, application Switzerlan November 12, 1949 Claims.

My invention relates to devices for advancing a tube or tubes in a subterranean formation on earth material or the like, including a press or presses and a coupling to couple said press or presses with said tube or tubes. Such devices may for instance be used for advancing imperforate borin tubes or screening tubes from a shaft for making water or other liquid handling installations, for advancing sewer or telephone tubes or other tubes under rivers, streets, buildings etc. These devices may be used for advancing tubes horizontally, vertically or in an inclined position.

With such devices the tubes can be advanced at a time only by a distance corresponding to the stroke of the press or presses. After each stroke the piston of the press must be returned into initial position, whereupon the tube may be advanced by a further pistons travel. Couplings known up-to-date for coupling the press or presses with the tube to be advanced had to be fixed to and loosened from the tube by hand. Couplings of this kind were, for instance, screwed to the tube in the manner of coupling straps. This kind of fixing and loosening couplings was very wearisome.

It is an object of my invention to remedy these lnconveniences.

I attain this aim by providing for a coupling formed as a clamping head having two members to be applied to the tube to be advanced, the one of these members being axially adjustable with regard to the other, While on an axial adjustment of the member, a transmission means such as a ball or balls or a wedge or wedges, inserted between these members receives or receive a radial force from the adjustable member to transmit it to the other member to automatically press the one of said members onto the tube to be advanced.

Other objects and features will be apparent as the following description proceeds, reference being had to the accompanying drawing showing by way of examples two embodiments of my invention and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a partially sectional view (seen in the axial direction of the tube to be advanced in the subterranean formation) of the clamping head of the first embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a partially sectional view along line 11-11 of Fig. /1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of my novel device installed in a vertical shaft from which one or several tubes are to be advanced in a subterranean formation surrounding the shaft.

Fig. 4 is a front viewof a second embodiment 2 of the clampin head, seen in the axial direction of the tube to be advanced in the subterranean formation.

Fig. 5 is a partially sectional view along the line VV of Fig. 4.

vanced is coupled with the pistons 6 of the presses 5 by means of a clamping head 8.

A first embodiment of this clamping head 8 will now be described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing: v v

The clamping head 8 has a U-shaped member 9 whose legs it) have inwardly directed projections ll. Race rails l2 with race grooves H. are welded or otherwise fixed to the projections ll.

Member 9 also comprises two T-shaped grooves l4 slidably engaging corresponding guide rails 4| of frame 4. Member 9- may thus be adjusted along frame 4 in axial direction of the tube 2 or tubes to be advanced. The thinner end portions l5 of the pistons 6 (Fig. 3) traverse bores l6 of the member 9 and are firmly fixed to the member 9 by means of radially arranged keys H. The member 9 has an inner round supporting surface H! for the tube 2 to be advanced.

In the interior of the U-shaped outer member 9 an inner member 19 is provided, comprising a round supporting surface 20 for the tube 2. Member [9 has race rails 2| welded to the latter and provided with race grooves 22 lying opposite to the race rails l2 and the grooves I3 of the outer member 9 respectively. As especially shown in Fig. 2 the surfaces 23 and 24 of the race rails l2 and 2!, comprising the race grooves l3 and 22 are parallel or substantially parallel to each other and inclined with regard to the longitudinal axis of the clamping head and of the tube 2 to be advanced. The surfaces 23 and 24 enclose a space receiving balls 25 running on the grooves I3 and 22. In order to prevent-the balls 25 from escaping the clamping head, stop means 40 are provided on'the members 9 and I9, retaining the balls 25 in the above-mentioned space.

On advancing the tube 2 by means of the presses 5 the clamping head above-described and illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing works as follows:

When hydraulic pressure is given onto the presses 5 so that the pistons 6 advance in the direction of arrow A (Fig. 3), they also take along with them the outer U-shaped member 9 coupled with these pistons by means of the keys H. Member 9 at first moves axially towards the right in Fig. 2 and relatively to the inner member 19. Owing to this relative movement the width B of the space containing the balls 25 is decreased and, in consequence thereof, the balls 25 are pressed in radial direction of the tube 2 onto the inner member l9, thereby pressing the member 19 firmly onto the tube 2 so that the latter is now clamped fast between the round supporting surfaces It and 20 of members 9 and I9 respectively. Thereby, the balls 25 undergo an elastic compression and make elastic impressions on the race rail of the members 9 and it.

On further advance of the pistons B of the presses 5 in the direction of arrow A (Fig. 3 the entire clamping head 8 and with it the tube 2 are taken along. The clamping effect of the head 8 is the greater the higher the advance pressure of the, presses 5 is. The tube 2 may now be advanced by a distance corresponding to the stroke of the pistons 5 of the presses 5. Fig. 3 shows an intermediate position of the clamping head 8 and of the piston 6. In order to discharge into the shaft 1 the subterranean formation material lying in front of a boring head (not shown) mounted on the fore end of the tube 2 to be advanced, it often becomes necessary to interrupt the advance movement one or several times during an entire stroke of the pistons 6, and to slightly withdraw the tube 2. This withdrawal is obtained by applying pressure to the presses 5 in a direction opposite to arrow A. Thereafter, the material in front of the bore head may be removed by scavenging. During this slight withdrawal of the tube 2 the clamping head 8 moves backwards together with the tube 2 without the radial pressure efiect of the balls 25 being interrupted. The elastic effect of the compressed balls 25 or the adhesiveness of the members 9 and I9 is sufiicient to allow the tube to be withdrawn opposite to arrow A by a desired distance under the eifect of the pressure in the presses 5 without the clamping head being loosened, provided, of course, that the friction of rest between the tube or tubes and the subterranean formation is not greater than the force applied by the presses to the tube or tubes.

After the tube having been advanced by an entire stroke of the pistons 6, the clamping head 8 must not be loosened by hand in order to bring it back into a position corresponding to the initial piston position, but the member 19 may be held fast in its position by supporting it on a stationary point of the shaft by means of an iron piece for instance, whereupon pressure is given onto the presses 5 in adirection opposite to arrow A. Now, the member 9 coupled with the pistons 6 by means of the keys I? carries out an axial movement relatively to the member IS in a direction opposite to arrow A, that is, towards the left in Fig. 2, so that the width B of the space between the surfaces 23 and 24 is being increased and the radial pressure of the ball 25 onto the member 19 and their elastic compression are done away with.

From the above it follows that on forward pressing in the direction of arrow A the head 8 is automatically clamped fast on the tube 2 to be advanced, while on backward pressing opposite to arrow A it is automatically loosened only if the member I 9 is supported on a stationary part. Since the stop means 40 prevent a complete separation of member 9 from member [9, the entire, now loosened clamping head, after removal of the above-mentioned iron-piece or any other supporting means, is slidingly withdrawn by the pistons 5 into the initial position for another pressing stroke.

If by means of my novel device, shown in Figs. '1 and 2, an imperforate boring tube or tubes are to be advanced which, after insertion of screening tubes into these imperforate tubes, are to be withdrawn (see e. g. my pending application Serial No. 794,327 filed December 26, 1947, now Patent No. 2,550,480), the clamping head 8, before withdrawal of the imperforate tubes, has simply to be turned by so that the left-hand end of Fig. 2 is turned towards the right. On withdrawing these imperforate tubes similar steps are being taken as described above with regard to the advance movement.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the members 9 and [9 of the clamping head are shaped similarly to Figs. 1 and 2. The main difference to the first embodiment resides in that fact that wedges 25 are substituted for the balls 25. These wedges 26 engage a surface 3| of member 9, which is parallel to the axis of the clamping head and a surface 32 of member [9, which is inclined with regard to the head axis. The manner of operation of this device with wedges 25 is equal to that of a device comprising balls 25.

In this second embodiment, too, the clamping head, for withdrawing tubes, may be turned in a similar way as in Fig. 2. Clamping the head fast on the tube also takes place automatically and a return movement of the entire head is possible owing to the elastic effect of the wedges. Also in this second example, loosening the head from the tube is obtained by moving the pistons 6 of the presses 5 opposite to arrow A after having locked the member 1 9 by means of a sup* porting iron piece or the like.

Instead of two presses, only one, or more than two presses may be used.

Canting of the members 9 and I9 is prevented in both embodiments by the balls and wedges re-.

spectively. The members 9 and i9 always remain parallel to each other.

Instead of advancing tubes horizontally, tubes may also be advanced vertically or in an inclined position by means of my novel clamping head.

While I have described and illustrated two embodiments I do not wish to limit unnecessarily the scope of my invention thereto, but reserve the right to make such modifications and rearrangements of the several parts as may come within the purview of the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. For use with an apparatus for advancing a tube in a subterranean formation or earth material or the like including a press to advance the tube, an automatic drive coupling .clutch comprising a clamping head formed of complementary matching members, one of said members being axially movable with respect to the other and at least partially overlying the other member, adjacent complementary surfaces of the members inclined with respect to the center line of the tube, and a transmission member havin a surface curved in at least a direction transverse to the axis of the tube and positioned between said matching members, whereby an axial force in a direction to advance the tube may be applied to one of said matching members automatically moving the complementary surfaces in engagement with the transmission member so that the axial force is radially transmitted through the curved surface of the transmission member to the other of said matching members to press it against the wall of the tube for frictional engagement therewith so that the tube is advanced.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which the transmission member is a ball.

3. A device according to claim 1 in which the transmission member is elastically deformable to maintain the coupled condition of the matching members against a predetermined axial force tending to uncouple the matching members.

4. A device according to claim 1 in which the adjoining walls of the matching members adjacent the transmission member are parallel to each other and inclined with respect to the axial direction of movement of the tube.

5. For use with an apparatus for advancing a tube in a subterranean formation or earth material or the like including a pair of presses to advance the tube, a coupling clutch comprising a clamping head comprising a pair of memberg each having a supporting surface to engage the tube to be advanced, one of said members being U-shaped and axially adjustable with respect. to the other member and having means to be coupled with said presses on opposite sides of its supporting surface, a plurality of balls, the U-shaped member including a pair of inwardly directed projections, and a wall on each projection to engage the balls, the other member lying in the opening of said U-shaped member and having two walls to engage the balls, each wall of the inner member positioned opposite to one of said walls of the U-shaped member in spaced relationship therewith to receive a group of the balls aligned in a row, the rows of balls positioned on opposite sides of the supporting surfaces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 927,424 McClellan July 6, 1909 1,015,893 Keeler Jan. 30, 1912 Carr Oct. 3, 2,517,494: Kiss et al Aug. 1, 1950 

